Kindred Royston Newmarket Road Pre-School

Chester Bear spends weekends with children’s families, cooking boxes take nursery learning home, and outdoor play continues through changing weather. These are useful clues to the character of Kindred Royston Newmarket Road Pre-School: family participation and practical exploration give this setting its strongest identity.

At its September 2021 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good and found safeguarding effective, while identifying improvements needed in support for newer staff and the consistency of information given to parents. That dated judgement provides a positive starting point, with two concrete questions for families to pursue.

The pre-school cares for children aged 2 to 5 and has capacity for 35 children in total.

Attendance choices include Short Day, Full Day and Full Day Extra Care, across a year-round calendar. The practical differences between those patterns matter as much as the educational offer.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care: here, play and everyday activities give children opportunities to practise language, number skills and physical coordination. Morning group discussions sit alongside activities involving shape, sensory exploration and language, with learning adjusted to children’s development. Children also have time to choose their own play. The combination gives the day both structure and room for individual interests.

In September 2021, dough-making brought several kinds of learning together. Children discussed ingredients and the proportions needed to make their mixture, drawing on earlier experience rather than simply following instructions. The value lay in the conversation as well as the finished dough: a practical task became an opportunity to explain ideas and use mathematical thinking.

Role play was responsive to family life at that time. Dolls and baby equipment supported children whose families were expecting another baby, connecting imaginative play with something they were experiencing at home. Drawing also gave children opportunities to practise controlled pencil movements. These examples show how ordinary resources can serve a specific learning purpose when staff understand the child using them.

Cooking, dance and athletics feature in the current enrichment offer. Chef-created cooking boxes give families a practical way to continue learning together at home.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School takes place on a nearby school site, giving children opportunities to explore woodland beyond the nursery garden. It adds a different outdoor setting to the day’s learning. Within the pre-school itself, children can move freely between indoor play and the garden throughout the day, and outdoor activity continues in different weather, with warm clothing provided.

The garden contains a sensory garden, sandpit and mud kitchen. Children can build using loose parts and help grow and care for plants, so outdoor time includes making, digging and tending as well as movement. These physical features give families a clearer picture of the offer than a general promise of fresh air: children have materials to manipulate and living things to look after.

Chester Bear accompanies a child’s family each weekend, connecting family adventures with nursery life. Book and welly swaps let parents exchange reading material and outdoor clothing.

Relationships and Communication

In September 2021, key persons supported new children and those returning after holidays. Staff gathered information about children’s existing skills to plan individual learning, giving their support a personal starting point.

Photographs and observations keep parents involved in learning. An achievement board celebrates successes from nursery and home, giving families another way to share children’s accomplishments.

Consistency remains the important question. In September 2021, some families received more detailed information about learning than others, and newer staff needed stronger support with assessing children’s development. These were separate but connected improvement areas: parents need understandable updates, while practitioners need a dependable understanding of how progress is assessed. Families should explore how those processes work now.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The current day includes rest after lunch for children who need it, while children who remain awake can choose quiet activities, sensory room experiences or play. Rest is therefore part of the routine, with an alternative for children who do not sleep. This matters for an age range in which children’s daytime sleep needs can differ.

In September 2021, the sensory room contained illuminated resources that children watched while lying down, and books helped them discuss feelings. Outdoor climbing and yoga also featured in the day at that time. Those dated examples show both quiet and active experiences, rather than a day built entirely around group activity.

Fresh meals are cooked daily by an on-site chef using an accredited menu. For families, having food prepared within the setting makes meals part of the nursery routine rather than another daily packing task.

Preparation for school is grounded in familiar actions: children make choices, ask for help, pour drinks and take responsibility for small tasks. Local school teachers are invited to meet children in the nursery, allowing introductions in surroundings the children already know. These are transition activities, with their value in familiarity and independence.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 3 Newmarket Road, Royston, SG8 7HG. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. The setting closes for bank holidays and a week at Christmas, so families need to fit those breaks into their annual childcare arrangements.

Three named daytime patterns provide different collection points. Short Day runs from 8am to 4pm; Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm; Full Day Extra Care starts at 7.30am and finishes at 6pm. The earlier start and shorter afternoon are separate choices, so the decision involves the whole daily timetable rather than simply how many days to book.

Private childcare and funded hours are offered. Families can book a one-to-one visit to discuss their needs with the team.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery accepts 30-hour funding for eligible working families with children aged 2 to 5, and the universal 15-hour entitlement for children aged 3 to 5. Funding is stretched through the year rather than delivered solely during term time. Families comparing childcare arrangements should consider the weekly allocation across that longer calendar, alongside their chosen attendance pattern.

Meals and non-food consumables have different charging positions depending on the hours used. Private fees include meals, snacks, nappies, wipes, milk and formula; funded sessions carry separate food, non-food and activity charges. The funded childcare entitlement and those additional charges therefore need to be considered separately when assessing the total arrangement.

For funded sessions, families who do not want to use consumables alongside their entitlement are directed to the Nursery Consumables Policy and must notify the nursery in writing. That provides a stated route for discussing a different arrangement. Current prices should come in the nursery’s written quotation, with the chosen sessions and funded-hours charges set out together.

• Learning updates and staff assessment. September 2021 brought two improvement points: uneven detail in information for parents and support needed for newer staff with assessment. During a visit, ask to see how learning updates and staff support now work in practice.
• Outdoor play in different weather. Daily garden access and Forest School on a nearby school site are central to the offer. Explore how your child would take part, including the clothing arrangements and the balance between garden play and woodland activity.
• Funded-hours extras. Food, non-food items and activities are charged separately on funded sessions, while private fees include everyday food and care supplies. Request a written quotation for your actual booking pattern and discuss the written-notification route if you wish to decline consumables.

Kindred Royston Newmarket Road suits families seeking an outdoor-led pre-school for children aged 2 to 5, with either a Short Day finishing at 4pm or Full Day care continuing to 6pm; Full Day Extra Care also accommodates an earlier start. The sensory garden, woodland setting and chef-created cooking boxes make its offer easy to picture. Chester Bear and the swaps give families straightforward ways to join in.

The September 2021 Good judgement is a useful reference point, but the detail matters more than the label. A decision should bring together the current day, the family’s attendance pattern and how clearly practitioners explain a child’s learning, especially given the two improvement points identified at that time.